Vocal EQ Cheat Sheet

A vocal EQ cheat sheet is the fastest way to know where to look. It tells you the general frequency range of a vocal and which areas tend to need attention.

Every singer and every take is different, so treat the ranges below as a place to start rather than a set of rules. Under the chart is the six-step process I use to EQ a vocal from start to finish, and you can follow it on any vocal mix.

Vocal Frequencies

This works for male and female vocals and gives you the ranges worth paying attention to. What each one needs depends on the singer, the mic and the room, so listen before you reach for any of it.

• 0-100 Hz – Handling noise, floor rumble and air conditioning live down here, and most vocals do not. A high-pass around 80 Hz is a common starting point. Raise or lower it while listening and stop before the voice starts losing weight, because a deep male voice can have fundamentals in this region and a steep filter will thin him out.
• 200-500 Hz – Body and boom share this range. A small cut around 350 Hz can clean up a boomy vocal, and a gentle lift around 200 Hz can add fullness to a thin one.
• 800 Hz-1 kHz – Where a vocal turns boxy or nasal. Sweep a narrow cut through it if the tone sounds honky, but plenty of vocals need nothing here at all.
• 1-2.5 kHz – Some voices get hard around 1.5 kHz. When that happens a narrow cut fixes it faster than anything else.
• 3-5 kHz – Presence. A small boost around 3 kHz can bring a vocal forward, and a dip around 4 kHz can take the edge off one that is already too forward. Plenty of vocals arrive with enough of both.
• 5-10 kHz – Clarity and consonants. A gentle lift here makes a vocal more exciting, but this is also where sibilance lives, so listen for the S sounds getting sharp.
• 10-20 kHz – Air. A slight shelf between 10 and 16 kHz is usually all it takes. If there is hiss or noise above that, a low-pass filter or another EQ band will deal with it, but do not remove the top of a clean recording just because you can.

How to EQ Vocals in Six Steps

The chart tells you where to look. This is the order I work in, and it matters more than any single setting. EQ is not a rescue tool, though: if the recording is poor, no amount of it will fix the take. Get the performance right and EQ makes it better.

1. Clean the Vocal With a High-Pass Filter

Most takes have content at the very bottom that the vocal does not need. Insert an EQ on the lead, set a high-pass, and move it up until you hear the voice start to change, then back off.

A low-pass is a different decision. Reach for one when there is hiss, air-conditioning whine or amp noise up there, not as a matter of routine, because a clean recording usually wants its top end left alone.

Any decent EQ will do this. The goal is to lose what is not the voice and keep everything that is, so cut less than you think you need to. Some plugins let you audition the part you are removing, which makes it obvious when you have gone too far.

2. Cut the Problem Frequencies

Filters clean the edges. What is left are the individual spots inside the vocal that ring, honk or sting, usually somewhere in the low mids, mids or high mids.

To find them, make a narrow band, boost it 5 or 6 dB and sweep it slowly across the spectrum. A boosted sweep exaggerates everything, so once you think you have found something, drop the boost back to normal and decide at a sensible level and in the full mix rather than in solo.

Then turn that boost into a cut and keep the Q narrow. Most of the time a small amount does it, though a genuinely nasty resonance can need a lot. 400-500 Hz, 1 kHz and 7 kHz are common places to find trouble, but they are places to check, not a list to work through. If you find yourself stacking up cuts because you went looking for them, stop and listen to the vocal without any of them.

3. Boost the Good Frequencies

Now sweep again, this time looking for what you want more of. Think about what the vocal is missing rather than about a target: 100-120 Hz is where fullness lives, though it is also where boom does. 3-5 kHz is presence, and a vocal that is already forward will not thank you for more. 10-15 kHz is air, when there is air to find and not just hiss.

A good default is to cut narrow and boost wide, since a broad lift keeps the vocal sounding like a voice rather than like a setting. And if the take already has the character you want, the right number of boosts is none. Level-match against the bypassed signal before you decide, because a boost is also a volume increase, and louder always sounds better for the first few seconds.

4. EQ the Vocal Double

A double is a second take of the same part, sung again and recorded separately rather than copied. Plenty of great vocals are single-tracked, so this is a choice rather than a step, but when you want a chorus to open up it is the usual way to do it.

EQ it after the lead, the same way: filter, then cuts, then boosts. Do not copy the lead vocal’s EQ onto it. Even a singer with perfect pitch will not deliver an identical take, and the distance, angle and dynamics all shift with it, so the problem spots land somewhere else. Keep the lead playing while you work on the double.

5. Blend the Lead With the Double

Blending starts with the faders, and most of the job is done there. Timing, tuning, panning and compression all move the blend too, but reach for those after level, not instead of it.

This assumes you already did your gain staging, so the levels are roughly there. Where you put the double decides what it is for: up close behind the lead and the pair reads as one bigger voice, further down and it just adds weight the listener never consciously hears. Both are valid. What you do not want is a double loud enough to push the vocal’s overall level around.

6. EQ and Blend the Rest of the Vocals

Backing vocals and harmonies are usually the last vocal thing I do, and they usually go quickly. Clear out the mud and the harshness and move on, though if one of them has a resonance as bad as anything on the lead, treat it properly.

The blend is the interesting part, because it decides what these tracks are for. Push them up and they become part of the hook. Tuck them down and they just make the lead feel bigger without the listener noticing why. If you are not sure which you want, find a song with harmonies you like and copy the balance.

Conclusión

Use the chart to know where to look and the six steps to know what order to work in. Both are a starting point. Every voice is different, and the tricks you develop for the singers you work with regularly will beat any general guide, including this one.